The initial weather reports earlier in the week were not promising at all – rain, rain and more rain. But as the week progressed the predictions changed and it looked like there would be some rain we just didn’t know how much.

Mark and I started working on the course Wednesday, June 10 from 6am until about 12:30. Thursday we took it easy and worked from 7:30 until about 1:30pm. Mark then came back Thursday night with the Crosman trailer and did the remainder of the setup for the Crosman sale and event registration areas.

Friday at 6:30 I was at it again setting up the sight-in range but by 7am I had help from the early arrivers. I think the sight-in range was open by 8am and I was finally able to take a breath.

The kitchen was open for breakfast and lunch. Crosman had provided 3 $5 food coupons in each registration. The food prepared by the husband-wife team was AMAZING. I got a crispy bacon, egg and cheese on a crescent roll, sat down and took 30 minutes to take it all in.

The weather on Friday was scattered showers and they definitely came through. We had 4-5 quick showers throughout the day. The trees covering the firing line meant that everyone could continue through the rain. Crosman held their factory tours, about 10 miles away. Everyone then came back and shot the Quigley challenge. How someone can hit 3 out of 5 shots off-hand using iron sights at a 2” target 55 yards away is crazy, but it seems to happen every year.

My daughter, Sydney, was registered but couldn’t attend. So we found a young 8 year old that came in from Indiana with his family to take Sydney’s place. Ike would shoot with me and my son Andrew for the next couple of days. I took him down to the range to get him familiar with my Marauder. Big for him but he could almost handle it. He started on paper and then shot his first target and promptly knocked it down. His face lit up, mouth open – priceless.

I had to leave for the day (to see Sydney off to her Senior ball) but got a call from Mark shortly after with a heads up that a cell had passed through and all of the paper targets at the sight-in range had blown away meaning an even earlier start on Saturday.

Saturday we were there at 6am getting the sight-in range ready for the masses. People were there to help again so we got the range open by 7.
Shooter’s meeting started at 8:45 in the clubhouse with Mark starting things off. I made it clear to everyone that if there are any issues with the targets that it’s Tyler’s fault (from Pyramyd Air) – we all had a laugh. The Hunter group would be on the odd lanes with WFT on the even lanes. Tomorrow we would switch. We all walked down to the course and took our places. The match was under way by 9:15. The weather was clear and humid with a light and variable breeze. We had several cold lines at first, but the problems were taken care of quickly and we eventually got into our shooting rhythm.

At the end of day 1 Ike had managed to knock down 8 targets with a gun that was definitely too big for him, but he persevered and had a great time. Ike, keep your finger off that trigger until you’re ready to shoot! ) Kim and Joel, from Crosman, noticed the gun issue and offered to bring their son’s .22 Discovery tomorrow for him to use instead.

We had a couple of protests on the lanes, with only one target taken off the course and scores adjusted. We then adjusted lanes 1-15 for the pistol match. Moving some targets closer and taking out the reducers. There would be 15 lanes with 1 target each and 3 shots at each target for a pistol match of 45 shots. The troyer rating was 29. After the pistol match we moved the targets to their previous position and put the reducers back in.
Sunday we were there at 6:15 to setup the sight-in range with new paper and were hot by 6:45. A quick breakfast and I was out there with them trying the Discovery that Joel and Kim brought – that is a great gun. Joel had it tuned and shooting great getting 25 shots per fill (from 2000psi down to 1000). Ike and Andrew had a great time shooting that discovery.

Weather was supposed to come in early afternoon so quick shooters meeting at the course and we were hot by 8:45.
Several cold lines (not as many as Saturday) but they were all quickly taken care of and we finished the match about 12:30. Ike finished with 8 again using the Discovery – no mil-dots, just crosshairs. Quick bite to eat at the kitchen and I was then out on the line to follow up with the protests. Found that all targets were working correctly so no score adjustments were necessary. Went to the clubhouse to ask everyone for help taking down the course and had probably 20 people able to help. 12 hours of setup took about 30 minutes to tear down – amazing.

Mark started the awards ceremony and we were probably finished by 2:30. Afterwards we were able to sit and relax at the clubhouse and talk about next year – yes, I would do this again. Hard work, but very rewarding.
For being only the second match I’ve put on I think the end result was a huge success.

I tried to touch base with everyone at the match. Overall the feedback was extremely positive. The course wasn’t boring, had reducers of ½” and 1” along with the standard 1 ½”. The troyer rating was 29.19, with even lanes being 28.35 and odd lanes 30.04. I learned a lot and will definitely be improving the process.

I think the most touching moment was seeing Hans walking from the clubhouse after everything was done. He had tears in his eyes but managed to tell me how nice the competition was and what a great time he had. I asked if I could hug him and he nodded his head so we shared a quick moment that I won’t ever forget.

Special thanks to the match directors whose matches I’ve attended – Ray and Hans Apelles (A-Team, EFTCC & Crosman), Greg Shirhall(Binghamton), Tyler Pratner(Pyramyd Air) and Tim MacSweyn(Port Colborne, Canada). I paid close attention to how your matches were run and couldn’t have done this without the great example that you provided. Greg was always just a phone call away to help with any questions I had – like the pistol match that I almost forgot since I hadn’t shot one before. Mark DeBoard, from Crosman, has been there with me every step of the way.

Tentative still, but I think Crosman is going to be the second weekend in July (8, 9, 10).
Won't be there for the 27th as Sydney's high school graduation is that weekend. But we'll both be up for the Canadian Nationals.